Kolkata Metro extends services, more trains from today – Times of India

Kolkata News
KOLKATA: From Wednesday, Metro is going to extend service hours by 30 minutes all seven days of the week on the North-South line and add six more services to the existing 270. The carrier is limping back to normal once again with its pre-third wave operation hours, number of services and the token system.

The first trains will leave at 7am as usual, but the last trains from Dum Dum and Kavi Subhas will chug out at 9.30pm instead of 9pm. The last service from Dakshineswar will be at 9.18pm instead of 8.48pm. On Sundays, the first trains would leave the terminal stations at 10am as usual.
As the state government eased restrictions and allowed the Metro to ferry 70% of its passengers instead of 50%, the utility announced reintroduction of tokens from Tuesday. Footfall automatically increased with the infrequent commuters taking the Metro now that the single-journey plastic discs are back in circulation.
Arun Adak, a commuter at Kalighat station, was caught unawares. “Didn’t know tokens are back, so I was carrying the smartcard I bought earlier this month. I came to the station and realized that tokens are back. Now I can surrender the smartcard and get the deposit back,” he said.
Since January 3, as the state government’s curbs came into place, Metro withdrew the token system, allowing only smartcard holders to ride, reduced weekday operation hours from 9.30pm to 9pm along the North-South stretch, the city’s transport lifeline. The results showed instantly and passenger count dipped, carrying nearly 2 lakh less people just as the state government intended.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/metro-extends-services-more-trains-from-today/articleshow/89285679.cms